Olmsted County partners with Boys & Girls Club for a Summer of Discovery!
For a second year, Olmsted County has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester to bring a Summer of Discovery to young people in our area. The Summer of Discovery program gives high school students an inside look at the services and resources Olmsted County provides. It also gets students thinking about their lives after school, by exploring and learning about career options within the Olmsted County government organization.
Olmsted County Associate Director of Child and Family Services Jenna Gilbertson is an organizer of the Summer of Discovery program. Gilbertson hopes students “get a peek behind the scenes of county operations that can lead to an interest in working at Olmsted County in the future.” Gilbertson also recognizes that staff are impacted by the students. Listening to questions from the students and their observations about the county provides county employees with “new perspectives, ideas, and energy.”
Throughout the summer, Olmsted County departments, like Parks, Public Health, Sheriff’s Office and Adult Detention Center, Environmental Resources, Information Technology Services, and the County Attorney’s Office, were able to show and teach the students about the work they do. Students wrapped up the program by being recognized during the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners meeting on August 1, 2023.
A day with Environmental Resources
On July 25, 2023, Summer of Discovery participants spent the day with Olmsted County Environmental Resources to learn about proper waste disposal and the variety of job opportunities in this area. Their first stop was the Olmsted Waste-to-Energy Facility (OWEF), where Environmental Resources Communications Specialist Anthony Wittmer explained why the OWEF is important in southeast Minnesota. The answer? The region is largely comprised of a karst landscape, which leaves very little space in Olmsted County to expand our existing landfill. Students learned that the OWEF reduces the amount of waste going into the Kalmar Landfill by 90%! Without the OWEF, Olmsted’s permitted landfill would have been filled up four times over by 2021! Additionally, Olmsted County views garbage as a resource. For over 35 years, the OWEF has been creating energy from waste that cannot be reduced, reused, recycled, or composted.
At the control center of the OWEF, participants asked Wittmer about the oddest items found in the garbage pile. While there were several things that Wittmer found to be odd, the group’s favorite answer was expired ice cream from the Kemps factory in Rochester. Students also learned if the tall garbage pile falls, it’s called a “garbalanche.”
While these questions amused students and staff alike, other questions led to thinking about options after graduation. One participant asked how someone their age could get started in a position operating the garbage grapple in the control room.
After checking out the OWEF, participants walked through other Olmsted County Environmental Resources facilities including the Recycling Center Plus, the compost site, and the Hazardous Waste Facility. Finally, they escaped the 90-degree heat and went inside to test their Environmental Resources knowledge in a game of Jeopardy with questions ranging from “When did the OWEF open?” to “How many tons of garbage are processed at the facility each day
Additional learnings
The Summer of Discovery program concluded on August 1, 2023. Gilbertson emphasized the significance of this program in terms of exposing youth to the many opportunities within Olmsted County.
“Many parts of our work are ‘behind the scenes.’ Even as an employee of the county, I am constantly learning about parts of the organization I didn’t know about,” she stated.
At the last Summer of Discovery session on August 1, the students had a discussion with Information Technology Services employees, a visit with the county administrator, a meeting with a county attorney, and observed the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners meeting.
Questions?
Curious about Summer of Discovery? Contact Jenna Gilbertson for more information.